On September 16, a group of enthusiastic community members gathered in a City-owned parking lot at King and Bay Streets to celebrate the inaugural launch of Hamilton CarShare, a non-profit carsharing co-operative.
The Grand River CarShare of the Waterloo region, which has been serving the area for 11 years, met with Hamilton residents earlier this year after accepting an invite from community activists to introduce the concept of carsharing to the GHA.
“We met with a group of community members at a workshop offered by Green Venture Hamilton,” says Janet MacLeod, Hamilton CarShare’s operations coordinator and a worker at the Grand River CarShare. “Almost immediately, a hardworking local advisory committee was formed, and a few months later, we have over 50 members and three cars on the road.”
Why Go Co-op?
Carsharing cooperatives have become an essential link in urban transportation large since the late 1990s. Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax (to name a few) boast burgeoning memberships in the thousands, with co-op cars placed in various locations in and around the cities. Hamilton’s first three cars are located on King Street between Locke and Pearl, and King and Bay Streets, providing 24-hour, self-serve access to CarShare members.
In response to the soaring costs of keeping a car on the road, including fuel, parking, insurance and upkeep, members can opt in by paying for a “share” in the co-op to access the services. The cars’ availability is checked, booked and paid for online or by telephone. Members pay a small monthly fee for insurance, a few dollars per hour for the car, in addition to a per-kilometre rate.
In Hamilton, the up-front share cost is $400 (which includes all car maintenance, and is refunded if membership is discontinued), $14 per month for insurance, $3.70 per hour for the car and 27 cents per kilometre. Roughly, a 20-km trip over the course of two hours will cost about $13 (weekend rate plans are also available). All members require to apply is a full G-class license, a relatively clean driving record and be over the age of 21.
“It’s an amazing service,” says Leslie Szamosvari, a Hamilton-based volunteer with the project and former AutoShare Toronto member. “Living in a city with transit, I didn’t always need a car, but sometimes I did, to pick up my son or do errands. Carsharing offered me that flexibility of letting me have a car whenever I needed one, for less than it would cost to rent one.”
Crunching the Numbers
Szamosvari is far from alone in his situation. A study conducted in Quebec revealed that many members got rid of their cars upon joining the co-op; even more decided against the possible purchase of one. Accordingly, it was estimated that each member reduced an average of 2,900 kilometres per year in car travel, and an estimated 3,530 fewer cars were on the road throughout Quebec due to carsharing. Most Canadian cooperatives estimate that one shared car can reasonably replace between six and eight privately owned cars.
Obviously, the prospective environmental impact of carsharing in urban spaces can be impressive. Statistics Canada indicated in 2004 that 74% of Canadians in urban centres make all trips by car, treading a hefty footprint in our atmosphere. Globally, 14% of greenhouse gas emissions stem from transportation; Canada’s love affair with the automobile nudges that number to just above 25%.
Plugging in a few more figures, independent studies in Europe and the US suggest these numbers can be cut in half if citizens who fit the carshare profile actively engage with one. Communauto, a Quebec-based carshare cooperative, estimates that each user cut approximately 1.2 tonnes from their annual greenhouse gas emissions and 28% in their total energy consumption.
The numbers aside, carsharing offers its consumers freedom from concerns with parking, hefty insurance fees and haggling with mechanics. Though Hamilton’s CarShare membership and fleet is relatively small, plans to immediately add more vehicles as the membership numbers grow are established. Complemented with public transit, hundreds of citizens in the downtown area alone fit the profile best suited to its services.
“The response we’ve had so far has been fantastic,” says Szamosvari. “I know so many people who either need or want to get rid of their cars in this city badly, but couldn’t because there was no other option. That’s all changed, now.”
For more information about Hamilton CarShare, visit www.peoplescar.org
